Impact des crises humanitaires sur l’inadaptation scolaire : Cas des enfants centrafricains scolarises et vivants à Yaoundé

Abstract

This thesis, which focuses on the impact of humanitarian crises on the educational maladjustment of Central African children attending school and living in Yaoundé, is an investigation in the field of education in general, and particularly from the perspective of educational intervention and support. It is based on the observation that violent conflicts remain one of the major obstacles to faster progress in education, leading to disastrous educational results. Indeed, mass population displacements are particularly atrocious manifestations of the forms that violence takes. Since December 2013, the Central African Republic has experienced a level of political instability leading to fear, hatred between communities, mistrust, and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people within the country and even outside the country. These displacements sometimes result in children dropping out of school and for others in their maladjustment to the educational system in the host country. Our study thus poses the problem of the adequacy of access to education in a humanitarian crisis situation and the existence of factors favoring the maladjustment of refugee children attending school in Yaoundé. Specifically, our study examines the effects of armed conflict on the maladjustment of Central African children attending school in Yaoundé. Hence our research question: What is the impact of humanitarian crises on the educational maladjustment of Central African children attending school and living in Yaoundé? Our objective in this research is to analyze and understand what could explain the fact that Central African children attending school and living in Yaoundé are always behind in their performance in class. In order to answer our research question, we formulated the general hypothesis that: "Humanitarian crises have a significant impact on the school maladjustment of Central African children living in Yaoundé. The operationalization of this general hypothesis gave rise to three research hypotheses which are HR1. The precariousness of school conditions in the host schools has a significant impact on the educational maladjustment of Central African children attending school and living in Yaoundé. HR2. Social interactions with the class group have a significant impact on the academic maladjustment of Central African children attending school and living in Yaoundé. HR3. The most difficult living conditions of Central African children attending school and living in Yaoundé have a significant impact on their school maladjustment. To test these research hypotheses, we conducted a study in the school groups of the Nkolndongo public elementary school in Yaoundé, Department of Mfoundi. A questionnaire was submitted to 122 subjects, all of whom were literate students. The questionnaires were analyzed and statistically processed using SPSS software. Inferential statistics made it possible to verify and confirm our three research hypotheses. In revisiting the theoretical foundations, we used three main approaches to interpret our results from a psychological point of view: the theory of integration and social control, the approaches of causal attributions and the culturalist theories of activity. In light of these results from the inferential analysis and their confrontation with the theoretical approaches used in the research, our general hypothesis proved to be valid, justifying that the associated cofactors such as the precariousness of the school conditions in the host schools, the social interactions with the class group and the most difficult living conditions of the Central African schoolchildren living in Yaoundé have a significant impact on their school maladjustment. This determination explains that humanitarian crises can be correlated to the school maladjustment of Central African children attending school and living in Yaoundé